How to protect yourself from sexual abuse: Owaah and the fight with feminists

The tale of Icarus and his father Daedalus is a well worn Greek tragedy in which a father, Daedulus, devices a way to escape his captivity in Crete (I am truncating this myth and but you can check it out here). They escaped when Daedalus fashioned wings for him and his son made of feathers and wax. Icarus in his hubris wanted to touch the face of Apollo (the Achaean sun god) and his wings came undone (wax melts) and he plummeted to his death.

Owaah is a Twitter handle whose operator I do not know nor have I ever bothered with his opinions outside the realm of their articles. From his use of pronouns, I will assume he is a man. One thing no one can accuse him of is being vacuous. He is an intelligent man with an amazing analytical mind. He has a way with words that makes the most mundane topics into rivetting reads rich with historical facts.

This week he decided to use his immense clout to discuss a touchy subject, sexual harassment and abuse.

This thread is specifically for ladies in the room, and sexual abuse in the workplace (hii Nairobi ni one big sexual harassment case).

First, you need to look your abuser in the eye and calmly tell him (or her) that you refuse him.

That said, Owaah approached an issue everyone will agree is a problem the way any man would; by looking for a logical solution. While his solution falls short, it isn’t reason enough for the lynch mob to go after him.

First, he was using his platform to address a sensitive issue. One I haven’t seen many other men tackle. That was either very brave of him or very foolish. I tend to think it was foolish. This man is a male feminist and he learnt the hard way what my uncle has been telling me: feminists do not appreciate their “male allies”. Rather than bash him, think of how many would have been reached had the feminists sheathed their feels long enough to educate everyone tuned in to the conversation. Of logic and feels.

Now that we have dispensed with the feel-good platitudes, let me tell you why I think what Owaah did was foolish. Hubris.

He believes he was not wrong in attempting to give women advice on a narrative they know only too intimately and even when he was informed he was wrong, he still kept at it. As anarchist Mikhail Bakunin said,

In the matter of boots, I refer to the authority of the bootmaker.

And there is nothing wrong with being wrong, but one must learn to accept when they are wrong. Hubris only leads to destruction. And when talking to women about something involving the feminine narrative, one must remember that solutions aren’t always welcome. That is why a woman will want to simply talk about her problems to vent; solely for the sake of venting.

The next time you have to comment on such matters, it is safer to say, “It is a crime that should be punished to the fullest extent of the law”. Otherwise, you risk coming up short and being crucified for being a bleeding heart. Also, committing social media suicide is a bitch move.

Now lemme go through his immensely captivating catalog of articles on his blog.